News

Training for grain bin rescues

By Scott Wagar

06/24/2014

The Bottineau Farmers Elevator has donated a device that will assist firemen in Bottineau County should an individual become trapped in a grain bin, an incident that happens more than one thinks it does in our state and nation.

The device, called grain bin rescue tubes, is made up of light weight, but strong metal panels that easily connect to one another and encircles a person who is stuck in the contents of a grain bin.

Once the shields are placed around a person in the bin, rescue teams can dig the person out without grain continually falling on the person.

Without the panels, grain would continue to flow around the person entrapped in the grain bin, which could eventually lead to suffocation or other forms of death.

Bottineau Farmers Elevator donated one set to the Bottineau Fire Department and another set to the Westhope Fire Department.

Each set has 10 panels and a hammer that allows the firemen to push the panels into the grain to make the rescue faster.

On Tuesday evening, firemen spent time inside the Bottineau Farmers Elevator being trained on how to use the rescue tubes.

The local firemen spent time being trapped in grain while their team members rescued them using the device.

For Gary Hardy, safety director for the Bottineau Farmers Elevator, the rescue tubes are important devices to have in the county because grain bin entrapments can happen more often than one thinks.

“After that man lost his life in a grain bin at Wilton the other night it makes you realize just how important devices like these are to have on hand,” Hardy said. “We hope we never have to use them, but they will come in handy if we need to use them.”

Just one day before the local firemen started training with the grain bin rescue tubes in Bottineau County, a man from South Africa who was employed on a farm in the small town of Wilton lost his life in a grain bin after he was accidentally forgotten inside the bin and the auger was turned on, sucking the man deeper into the contents of the bin.

Entrapments and deaths inside grain bins are not a rare occurrence. According to a study by Purdue University, approximately 900 cases nationwide of fatal and non-fatal grain entrapments have been recorded by the university since 1964.

In 2011, North Dakota was ranked with seven other states with the highest incidents of fatal and non-fatal grain documented entrapments, which included Iowa (4 incidents), North Carolina (4), Illinois (2), South Dakota (2), Nebraska (2), North Dakota (2) and Texas (2).

The study also showed that in North Dakota there have been 26 total grain entrapments cases since the study started.

With the new grain bin rescue device, local firemen hope to decrease the number of entrapments in the state.

“It is a remarkable addition to our fire department,” said Eric Nostdahl, fire chief of the Bottineau Fire Department. “It helps us to be prepared for an incident like this.”